FAIRFAX, Va. — President Barack Obama says an encouraging jobs report shows that the country has made too much progress to turn back to the policies that he says led the nation into an economic crisis.

Obama got much-needed good news Friday following his disappointing debate performance as the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent. That's the lowest it's been since he took office in 2009.

At a campaign event in suburban Washington, Obama said the report was "a reminder that this country has come too far to turn back now."

Cheers erupted from the crowd at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., when Obama noted that the jobless rate is now at its lowest level since he became president.